German Pension Refund Calculator
Find out if you qualify to reclaim your German pension contributions after leaving Germany and see exactly how much you could get back.
Always verify your country's current agreement status at deutsche-rentenversicherung.de
Enter your average annual gross salary during your time in Germany
Total months you paid into the German pension system
Used to calculate the mandatory 24-month waiting period before you can apply
Your refund estimate
Fill in the form and click Calculate Refund to see your eligibility and estimated pension refund amount.
How the German pension refund works
Every employee in Germany pays into the statutory pension system (Rentenversicherung) as a mandatory deduction from their gross salary. In 2026, the contribution rate is 18.6% of gross salary, split equally between employee and employer, so each side pays 9.3%. For a typical expat on a €50,000 salary, that is roughly €388 per month coming out of their pay packet.
Under §210 SGB VI (Social Code Book VI), non-EU citizens who leave Germany permanently and return to a country that has no bilateral social security agreement with Germany may apply for a full refund of their employee pension contributions. This is not a partial benefit. It is a lump-sum repayment of every euro you personally contributed.
The key rule is the 24-month waiting period. You must wait 24 months from the last calendar month in which you paid contributions before you can submit your application. This waiting period exists to ensure the departure is permanent and to protect the pension system from short-term contribution and refund cycles. Until those 24 months have passed, your contributions remain in the system.
A critical distinction is the role of bilateral social security agreements. Germany has agreements with EU/EEA countries, the USA, Canada, Australia, and many others. Under these agreements, contribution periods in Germany count toward pension entitlement in your home country, so your money is not lost. It is transferred. Citizens of countries covered by such agreements are not eligible for a cash refund; instead, their German contribution record is recognised by their home country's pension authority.
Only the employee share (9.3%) is refunded. The employer's matching contribution stays in the German system permanently. This is a common source of confusion. The refund will always be roughly half of the total 18.6% you may have expected to receive back.
Whether to claim the refund or leave contributions in the German system depends on your situation. If you might return to Germany or another EU country in the future, leaving contributions in place preserves your pension entitlement. If you are certain you will not return, claiming the refund typically makes more financial sense, especially for shorter contribution periods where the future German pension payout would be very small.